donna edwards on the house speaker ebbers to create a committee to negotiate on the budget spending issues and the presence stance that the government will be reopened before negotiations. ♪ [indiscernible] the latest proposal from the republicans, to form a supercommittee of sorts. enforcement of the debt limit until next year. meanwhile, the president in a long ranging press conference yesterday communicated his desire to see government reopen or engaging with republicans on fiscal matters. it is the ninth day of the government shutdown, and with that a debate over the debt ceiling is continuing. in our first 45 minutes this morning when it comes to these

topics, what is your message to washington? washington could mean a lot of things. your message to president obama, to house members, to republicans in the house and senate, or maybe specifically to your member of congress. regardless, tell us which are message to washington is when it comes to shut down and the debt ceiling. here is your chance to do so. guest: for republicans, host: for democrats --(202) 737-0001 for democrats, (202) 737-0002 for republicans, you can reach out to us on social media, on twitter, http://twitter.com/cspanwj, and you can always send us an e-mail at journal@c-span.org. all of the papers dealing with this issue, some from across the united states going back to "the chicago tribune," the headline is "obama will not pay ransom,

boehner won't surrender." "obama onami herald," shutdown, apologies and blame." "insists he won't negotiate" is the subhead. and hints ofs, compromise, from "the richmond times dispatch." to get the latest on what is coming on when it comes to discussions not only about the shutdown, not only about the joseph,ling, is cameron their political reporter on "the hill." hello. caller: thank you for having me. both there is a sense that sides are hardening their position, or the compromises coming. which is more accurate at this point?

i think that they are both far apart and are digging in on where they are. i think that what they are doing right now is both actually starting to really negotiate. you stop proposals that were quickly shot down but they are trying to come up with new ideas to find a way out of this mess. i do not think that either president obama or speaker boehner was doing that until the last two days or so. actually looking for a way to deal with the debt ceiling. host: this is just because of the amount of time that has already passed on the issue? or are other things forcing it as well? caller: part of it is the politics, but a big part is policy. clearly the polling is showing that this is hurting republicans

more than democrats, but i do not think that anyone really loves being in the situation. they have both acknowledged that the debt ceiling is a much more serious problem and i do not think that either side wants to play games in quite the same way as the government shutdown. the shutdown is more problematic to the economy. it does not generate did headlines were either side but does not do long-term damage like hitting the debt ceiling. that is something they are both trying to avoid. we are looking at an october 17 deadline on that. little bit about this proposal yesterday from the house speaker, the working group supercommittee, whatever you call it, talk a little bit about the proposal and i guess what hopefully was designed behind making this proposal. republicansink that

a little bit are kind of grasping at straws in terms of trying to come up with some idea that can please. there is a very conservative tea party aligned membership in the house, they need something that will have a chance that will save a complete shutdown from the democrats. yesterday essentially there was a large supercommittee that was essentially toothless, 20 members of congress, 10 from the house, 10 from the senate, six republican supporting democrats from the house, they had the reverse in the senate. essentially they would be able to negotiate and try to figure out a way out of the situation we are in. democrats rejected the situation. a lot of republican members basically said that they did not even have a firm grasp of what it was before was suggested.

sunday or monday a cap batted around a little bit and became the public position of the party , which shows how quickly they are moving right now. also that they are looking both for messaging and reality, a way out of the situation right now. president obama basically said there were no negotiations around the debt ceiling or a continuing resolution to fund the government. he really came down with some pretty strong rhetoric yesterday. speaker boehner and other republicans have been doing the same thing. he and democrats were critical saying -- look, you do not want to -- you want to do a notice and debate, let's do it after we take the gun away from the head of the american people. wanted to negotiate over things only republicans wanted.

they were not willing to talk about tax loopholes or other democratic priorities. it was seen as a somewhat empty gesture. my sense is that i do not think anything will be moving in the next few days, it will be one of those last-minute deals once again. republicans, especially centrist republicans are saying that with is clearly no endgame a government shutdown, he was hoping to do this solely around the debt ceiling. he is kind of backed into a corner because right now his conference is committed. with right now they think they are winning the politics of this. have aboute leave we 30 seconds, talk about action on the floor, it became an issue even a question yesterday.

i think that republicans, the way they are moving right now, they are essentially trying to embarrass democrats, moving bills to the house, dealing with head start programs yesterday. they have tried to open a part of the government and what it does, essentially is put house democrats in top districts on this pot. saying that you voted against head start or cancer research. that they voted against the nih bill. it does not really accomplish anything in the longer-term, it was a way of short-term messaging that the democrats are not willing to compromise on anything. that they are both still pretty far away from each other. there is no clear endgame for in terms of doubling

down on the position without backing away, the republicans are in the position where they basically have to surrender or admit something and it is not clear what that something could be at this point. >> cameron joseph, mr. joseph, thank you for your time. caller: thank you for having me. time,in our remaining about 40 minutes or so, numbers on the screen, your message to washington. mediaout to us on social as well. steve, republican line, what is the message. trying tostead of force this obama care on all individuals who are not satisfied with it, why did the government not just create clinic for the whole country where we will be serviced by doctors and nurses to take care of the people who do not have insurance? why force this obamacare on individuals where they are going to lose their jobs or have their hours cut because it is forced upon them?

tim, nextel --host: mountain home, arkansas. caller: good morning, pedro. good morning, america. i voted for nixon up until the time when gingrich started his nonsense and now we are picking it up again. these are act of treason, deliberate acts to destroy the american government. congressional power should be immediately spent -- immediately suspended in a tribunal, investigating the coke brothers, boehner and his gang of thugs that caused this catastrophe. be it, brought up on treason charges. >> joseph ramirez on twitter says -- pay the debts that you it isy oh, whenever necessary.

springfield, tennessee. your message to washington when it comes to the shutdown and the debt ceiling echo caller: -- debt ceiling echo -- debt ceiling? is wrong with postponing the obama law? quit acting like kindergartners. sit down and hash it out. he is just asking for you to implement the law. republican states are fighting it. sit down and hash it out. they postponed laws all the time. scott inhear from pennsylvania, republican line. >> good morning, sir, how are you? host: good morning. noter: i honestly do believe -- i think our freedom of choice has been taken away from us.

i think that president obama needs to sit down and discuss this and really think about what he is doing to people. i make $630 a month on unemployment. after i pay my car insurance and fill my vehicle with gas, it costs me $90 to fill my vehicle with gas because that is the vehicle i can afford. he thinks that this health care is affordable to me? i do not think so. i am not the only one, there are more out there like that. that is all i have to say, thank you for your time. >> that was scott, from pennsylvania. this is the democratic line, delbert. caller: this whole issue started as the fact that the republican party wants to destroy this president. he has given opportunities to try to negotiate with republicans, but even after you take up their ideas, they refuse their own ideas.

we have to look at the fact that they are literally just trying to destroy this president. should justare, we give it a chance, try it out and see where it goes, i think a lot of people are saying things about health care that they do not really know because the republicans have distorted it so bad. that thethink president should negotiate with terrorists, that is basically what we have now. willing toith people destroy the country, i would consider them to be terrorists. we need to be a whole country. the house has just been elected in their own district, but the entire country voted for the president. so, we have chosen to follow the president, so let him govern and let the house do their job. tito -- two tweets for you

-- this message is for congress, "grow up, already." next is erwin, kansas, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. we have come up with a solution out here, we need another party. party, republican, democrats, the national mall, i think they should have a neck berty and the message would settled in 15 minutes. that is all i have to say. paul ryan has an op-ed , referencing supergroups, having discussions. he said he had a few ideas to get the conversation started, to for medicare plans improve efficiency and reduce costs, asking for employees to

contribute more to their own retirement. host: there are other ideas, you can read it in "the wall street journal" this morning. is up next. byron, good morning. caller: colorcode good morning. i would like to say that before your collars make a comment about the republicans and tea try tothey were overthrow the government, basically is what they said. progressivehe movement, progresses are nothing but communists and socialists in the u.s.. you can verify this by going to communist party usa. -- will see a move in their

it you will see a movement there to take over the government and i would suggest that you get your listeners to get their facts straight when they make statements like that. the tea party, of which i am a , we are trying to be the constitutionalists. i have been reading the congress party of usa -- i am not a communist, i would like to know what our enemies are saying and i would suggest that your listeners do the same. host: papers this morning making reference to the news that broke yesterday that the president is expected to nominate today janet yellen, the lead on the central bank replacing ben bernanke. the first woman , known a central bank

for favoring policies and promoting unemployment as a chief concern of the fed. the president not making this announcement at the press conference yesterday, talking about a lot of issues related to the shutdown, he talked a little bit about the emergency powers that he and the administration have and that those powers are limited and subject to legal scrutiny. here is what he had to say. >> jack lew --[video clip] -- jack lew has made this necessary, but at some point the powers run out and the clock is ticking. i do worry that republicans and some democrats may think we have a bunch of other rabbits in our hat. which ifes a point at holdreasury cannot

auctions to sell treasury bills tom a we do not have enough money coming in to pay our bills on time. it is very straightforward. i know that there has been some discussion, for example, about my powers under the 14th amendment to go ahead and ignore the debt hold ceiling. setting aside the legal analysis , what matters is that if you start having a situation in aboutthere is controversy authority of the u.s. treasury to issue debt, the damage will have been done even if there were constitution -- even if it were constitutional, people would not be sure, it would be tied up in litigation for a long time. this morning, your message to washington when it comes to the government shutdown. a couple of thoughts here on twitter. this is from jim --

host: and then rock -- phonedavid is on the line, joining us from massachusetts. hello. good morning, thank you for taking my call. i wanted to make a couple of comments. i did send you an e-mail with a letter that i wrote to representative boehner. i support the president and the affordable care act. it has a lot of problems, but negotiation is the way to resolve those problems, not shutting down the government. we had a surplus when former president bush sent us into two unfunded wars while cutting the taxes on the wealthiest among us . republicans claim to be fiscally

responsible. i am a democrat who i believe is fiscally responsible. shutting down the government is not fiscally responsible. that is one of the items here. we might want to look at the offshore tax loophole and giving corporate welfare, which costs more than a lot of the social programs combined. representative donna edwards is going to be on the program at eight: 30 this morning, she has sent out a tweet regarding what is going on -- att: again, she will join us .:30 sean, good morning, independent line.

caller: this is unbelievable. i voted for obama the first go around and everything, but this hostagetaking, putting guns to their head? where do they get off even talking like this? the other point i wanted to make that it is really the shutting the government down, but from what i can see it is the democrats. all that republicans want is a year extension on obamacare. they are not asking for much, give everyone the same thing they are giving the big is mrs., a year, if you want to get the health care you get it, if you do not, the process follows. that they are talking

about this, this hostagetaking, it is just ridiculous. florida, next, republican line, joe, good morning. my concern is that here we have another huge part of the government going to take over going tomy and we are have huge fraud in the system. just like there is fraud in the new disability system and in medicare. how they willsee be able to control it. they have not been able to control the fraud in any of their departments. host: your message to washington would be what? toler: why did we have generate this huge system? how they will be able to controlgetting 31 pe? was that not what they were trying to do originally act out correct? know the exact

figures, but go ahead. have the am not sure i right price, but my understanding was that they would advertise on television to get people on this system, they are designing the system, my understanding, is just a computer-based program on it. all of this money they are spending on getting this system going is showing how much there is, hopefully getting 31 people on? trying toople as were get on, it was 65 million or something like that. they could have just taken the money that they were spending and they would be ok for a while. host: that is joe from florida. post,"he washington "harry reid introduced a bill --

went to theeaker cameras yesterday and talked about how he viewed the current ajit impasse. viewed the current budget impasse. [video clip] >> the president's position is just not sustainable, it is not our system of government. when it comes to the debt limit, i agree with the president, we ourld be -- we should pay bills. i did not come here to shut down the government or default on our debt, but when it comes to the limit again, 27 times over the last 40 years the debt limit has been used to carry significant

policy changes that would, in fact, reduce spending and put us on a safer fiscal path. president reagan sat down in the 1980s with tip o'neill. president bush in 1990 went out to andrews air force base and got into a long debate and negotiation with democrats here in congress. bill clinton went through this three times in the 1990s. sat down obama and i in 2011 and had a serious negotiation. while the president today suggested i walk away from the to remind himhave that i was in the oval office along with eric cantor when we in fact had an agreement the two days later that the president walked away from. alice, pennsylvania, democratic line. caller: i agree with the guy

from ohio, john boehner is holding this country for ransom. trying to sideline him and everything that he does, maybe he is jealous that he is not there? needs toink than he grow up. he has been in that office longer than obama. job,eds to grow up, do his try to do what we can for the country to make it better. i think that obama has great ideas. they do not want him to succeed. they do not want him to go down as a great president. mainly because he is black and that is all. thank you. there is a poll on our facebook page that you might want to take advantage of. the question is, how much has the government shutdown affected you?

if you want to make your thoughts known you could say it is a lot, a little, or not at all. for those participating this morning, 732 people saying the government shutdown affected them a lot. 334 people saying a little a boulder 1000, about 1100 people saying that it has not affected them at all. can participate in that poll, also give your lots on that question this morning. we are asking about the government shutdown in the debt ceiling and what your message to washington would be. pick a line that best represents you if you are going to give us a call. if you have called in the last 30 days and can hold off, we would appreciate it. republicans, (202) 737-0002, democrats (202) 737-0001,

independents, (202) 628-0205, and as always you can send us a tweet, http://twitter.com/cspanwj, or send us an e-mail at journal@c- span.org. as james, independent line, new york, hello. caller: how are you, sir? host: fine, sir. caller: two things, first is the lack of funding for the five service members killed over the weekend. is not a political topic, a democratic or republican issue, this is an american issue and if it is not resolved by the end of the day today, you are going to the entirens through united states saying to heck with both parties. to do tog what we have support our fellow military service members. the second message ties into that, i want to the say thank you to all of the rulemakers for

all of the ongoing mess in the past couple of weeks and years. pretty much what they are doing is creating a dividing line in the country right now that is splitting off the far left and the majority of the people in the united states, we do not sit on idle hands. not the democrats or the republicans represent the american people at this point in time. hopefully over the course of the next couple of years we will see a significant third party, not the tea party, but a third-party standing up to represent the veterans and the common people of the united states who truly believe that this is still the best country in the world without worrying about political goals. james from new york referenced the benefits for military families. host: the write up is in page 18 -- ofte new york times

"the new york times." that is in "the new york times." it was also referenced in the

speech and speaker boehner. thomas, kansas, republican line, hello. caller: good morning. how are you this morning? host: well, thank you. boehnerwhy does speaker not vote and proved that they do couldve the vote? if he prove it, ok, but if he cannot, get out of the race. indra is up next, bella rose, new york. caller: hello, good morning. i wanted to call to find out if the republicans think that the american people are a bunch of idiots. they are peace kneeling this legislation into congress for a vote. they going to do? piecemeal everything so that it gets voted off except for the affordable care act? one, was personally

affected by the affordable care act and i am happy that we have it. cruz seem to think that this is not something that the american people want? i want the president to fight for it. host: a survey looking at the topic of government, americans are now more likely to name dysfunctional government as one of the most important problems in the country. is provided byat

gallup. here is brandon, from the domain you. a couple of comments. the first, our founding fathers would be disgusted at how big this government has gotten on both sides of the aisle. i heard you talking about the federal reserve and how obama appointed that one lady. our founding fathers also warned us about a central bank being in control of our dollars. if you look back, ever since there has been a central bank and play, the dollar has declined every year since then. people on the isles need to compromise. obama already made numerous changes to the law that was put in play and then he goes around and changes it for corporations, big businesses, or whatever, but he cannot do the same thing for the little guy in america? it is disgusting how big this government has gotten.

the debt has to be dealt with. i am sick of people saying that we are still the rich country. we are $16 trillion in debt, there is no way that we are as rich as everyone says we are. you may have heard our guest this morning talking about the idea that was floated about a supercommittee. to give you a behind-the-scenes from yesterday, the house a heated discussed exchange over the formation of this bipartisan working group to discuss the shutdown. here is that exchange from yesterday, some of it. [video clip] >> i believe we are trying to come up with an idea that will empower members. i think our leaders have been unable to do it. i appreciate the thoughtful

questions and answers and would say to the gentleman that this is another opportunity and we are going to keep going them out , just as we have with others. think the gentleman and i am borrowing my time back, i do not need other members to tell me how to deal my job. i do not need the leadership of this country and either side telling me how to do my job. every one of the 435, six or seven delegates in this congress have minds that are just as sound and solid as everyone else . all that we have to do is go down to the floor right now and put on the floor a clean cr and let the body work its will. yesterday,took place you can see that on our website, caller: -- website, www.c- span.org.

a story in "the washington times," about an immigration rally that took place yesterday and there were several arrests by members of congress. people would not identify those arrested, but they witnessed these arrests gutierrezesentative sent out a tweet of his arrest yesterday. he is, being taken in and arrested at the rally that took place in washington, d.c. yesterday. mike, good morning. caller: can i ask two questions, please? host: go ahead. number one, oklahoma,

the affordable care act, would it be possible they not touch my medicare to pay for this? host: i suspect you get benefits from it? caller: exactly. is that in play? there are a lot of funding streams when it comes to the affordable care act. what is the second question? this health care is for all americans,? -- americans, yes? host: those who sign up for it, yes. caller: does it include immigrants and people on health care? host: i do not know. why do you ask? caller: they make a statement that 30 million americans will be insured. in mind, what is the message to washington?

president obama should make a statement to the people. look, i am a veteran. they let those immigrants march around the place and they the servicemen from visiting those very, very important graves and tombstones, the memories they have, it is not fair. byron, denham springs, democratic line. thankyou for -- caller: you for accepting my call. that poor man from pennsylvania needs help. the affordable care act does not apply to illegal immigrants. other things like that, i cannot the republicans. they create problems and get themselves in a mass and then

they want someone else to get them out. the american people are nuts too good. you see that 70% of them already know that the republicans are going to suffer for this and they brought it on themselves. that is i have to say. thank you. host: phil is up next, south carolina. caller: there seems to be some question as to whether the american people are stupid or not. [laughter] there are so many things i am tired of hearing. the republicans are all out to get obama. a stupid statement for mitch mcconnell to make, but if you think the democrats were not out to get bush or republicans were not out to get clinton before that, it is -- that is what they do. another thing that pops up all the time is the republicans are

doing this because obama is black. sorry, i do not think that that is the case at all. they disagree with him on policy. this before has a move date been made without bipartisan support in the congress. democrats had that two-year window with a super majority and that was it. phil is up next, south carolina. caller:most of the people out ho not have a lot. most of the people do not have a lot. the ones that work hard and have something are being asked to pay for the people who do not work and have less and that is really the bottom line in this whole thing. forou think it is right someone like me, who goes to work every day and pushes to try to get through each day and pay bills on time and whatnot, if you think it is fair for me to have to work and pay more in order for the guy who pays next montho take a check every

, if it is good for me to pay more, i guess obama care is good , but if he wants to do something, obama care is not. on thenformation affordable care act, going to the viewer who asked about how immigrants are covered, when it comes to naturalized immigrants they would get the same coverage lawfullyn citizens. present immigrants would get limited federal coverage and there is a listing of what that implies. undocumented immigrants would get no federal coverage. forcan check out the site yourself. this is mike in wallace, north carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call, this morning. just a few comments i would make. i was raised conservative by conservative people, studying the constitution of the united

states, which i am not a rhodes scholar of, by no means, but 125 years ago it was determined that the less government, the better. gone to fruition that people have denied history and now we have government involved in every aspect of our lives. and as usual, the government screws it up. speaking as a conservative republican, i would love to have the american people wake up and understand that there is going to be a revolution in this if the people in washington, d.c. that we have do not to represent us get off their high horses. my grandfather had a good saying , educated idiots. exactly that is what is taking .lace

we are being ruled by educated idiots. host: looking at the debt ceiling, "usa today," they have a story on the treasury department and if the government will have enough cash to make the interest payments due on october 31.

host: we will take one last call on this topic, this is from northern illinois, democratic line. yes, i wish that our leaders in congress there would sit down and talk this out, compromise, communicate. they are acting like children instead of adults. we put them there to pass laws, to help the constituents in the field and they are not doing their job. that is all i have to say, thank you very much. host: that is the last call we will take on this topic. youave two guest, first will hear from tom cole, republican from oklahoma later in the program, donna edwards for maryland will join us for discussion as we talk about the debt ceiling and the shutdown.

those guests coming up when "washington journal" continues. ♪ >> this columbus day weekend, but tv is live, in nashville, for the southern festival of books, we will webcast the events exclusively on booktv.org. james swanson will talk on the jfk assassination, scott chronicling rule america in "crapalachia." on c-span two, this weekend, and do not forget to read our october book club selection, walking with the wind, the early years of the civil rights movement.

post your thoughts any time on our chat room. >> first lady grace coolidge was known as the first lady of baseball. >> a lifelong baseball fan, being in massachusetts and vermont, they were big boston red sox fans. they have little allegiance to the local team down there, the senators. the seasonumber of passes that she was given by the american league. they were usually issued to her and a wallet or a pocketbook. and of them are wonderful art deco in style. one of the items in the exhibit is these certificates that she was given by the boston red sox and the washington nationals, as they were called in 19 55, designating her the first lady of baseball.

>> watch the program on grace coolidge on our website or see it saturday at 7 p.m. eastern. we continue the series live on monday. isthe c-span video archive the true modern record of congress. the c-span archives are amazing. >> it is amazing. you can view or share c-span programming any time, it is easy, here is how. go to www.c-span.org and go to the library. click on what you want to watch and press play. you can also search the library for a specific topic or keyword. or you can find a person. type in their name and search, go to people, go to their bio page to scroll down for their appearances. you can also share what you are watching to make a clip. add a title and description, click share, send it i e-mail,

facebook, twitter, or google plus. by the tv industry, funded by your local cable or satellite provider. "washington journal" continues. back, we are joined by congressman tom cole this morning. we are on day number nine of .his government shutdown give us your view as to where we are now. roughly half the federal .orkforce is back at work the defense department is fully operational, essential people are out there. everyone who has been for loaded knows that they will get their pay eventually. that appeased a lot of people and was the right thing to do. . the defense department is fully step-by-step we are moving in the right direction and sooner it will be better.

frankly, the shutdown situation has now merged with the debt ceiling discussion, so if we can get the parties at the table with each other, i do not see much reason to continue a shutdown. yesterday john boehner said that he wanted a supercommittee group to get together to talk about these budget issues. do you think that this is the right way today read -- to go? will it solve anything echo guest: -- solve anything? day,: at the end of the the principles need to be engaged in the negotiation. they can pick their own representatives and designees. personally i think it is a better way to go, but look, if this works i would be happy with that. once the talking begins the things that both sides agree on begin to emerge.

what are the major roadblocks standing in the way of some kind of agreement? the major roadblock is probably the debt ceiling and whether or not it will be unilaterally raise. that is basically the president's position. the speaker would say that this president is asking us to surrender before we sit down to talk. the president will say that he is just taking an unusable weapon off the table. it seems to me that there was a crack from the administration the jointible way, and relatively short-term continuing resolution to reopen the government, short-term suspension of the debt ceiling taking care of that, for some specified. over a matter of weeks, the real leverage in that negotiation are the sequester cuts, which we will continue to operate at a

pretty low level, both sides want to get rid of it in different ways, if you can get them to the table in that kind of format with a serious discussion going on, which both sides really believed was productive as opposed to just dueling press conferences, you could start moving. is it thatikely whatever deal him urges will have sequester relief? very likely, the elements are there to do that. the president put something in the budget that they can vote for. there are top things, the president recommended chains cpi, which over time would save hundreds of billions of dollars. means testing for medicare, obviously if you are very wealthy, you would pay more out- of-pocket in premium and co-pay, which is a reasonable thing to do.

i think that serious savings in medicare could be applied, it creates a pool of savings on the nondiscretionary side of the budget that you could then use to offset by restoring the sequester cut. republicans have put a lot of emphasis on defense. there are domestic initiatives that he thinks is important and you can do that by coming to a major deal. as paul ryan put it, it is a good down payment. host: we are opened your calls. for republicans, (202) 737-0001, for democrats, (202) 737-0002, for independents (202) 628-0205, an outline for federal employees is 202 -- 585 -- 3883.

we heard president obama speak on the debt ceiling. after this i will get your response. guest: you bet. [video clip] most valuable things that we have is america's credit worthiness. this is not something that we should even come close to fooling around with. when i read people saying that this would not he a big deal, we should test it out, let's take default out for a spin and see how it rides. -- imagine in your private i am notou decided going to pay my mortgage for a .onth or two first of all, you are not saving not paying your mortgage, you are just a dead. you can anticipate that it will hurt your credit. which means that in addition to

debt collectors calling, you will have trouble borrowing in the future and if you have to, you will have to borrow at a higher rate. what is true for individuals is also true for the nation, even the most powerful on earth. host: your response? guest: i agree with the president. a credit rating is an important thing. as the president skillfully spoke about him in professional terms, let me do the same thing. let's say that you have maxed out your credit card, you cannot youhere and say i just want to raise my limit, i am not going to change spending or pay you back for what i have extraed, just give me an one dollar trillion and we will go down the road. saying yes, the president is right about the debt ceiling and we need to do something at the same time, which is what we did in august of 2011 to address the deficit. worked, it isat

half of what it was back then. balance is ato step-by-step process, it is an important step triggering some sort of change or discussion. will members on either side of the aisle allow a debt ceiling breach? guest: i do not know, i did not think we would wind up in a government shutdown either. a bipartisann cents, frankly. i would hope that there are enough members on both sides, because in this case it is fairly routine. when the democrats had both houses, the debt ceiling went up whenever they wanted to. now,it is divided as it is we had multiple shutdowns. bush, it with george h w

the democratic congress and republican president, and we had it in the last two years of the george w. bush administration, and there was some sort of bargaining going on. if you are going to put votes on the board for something that is not popular, no one sent you to washington to raise the debt ceiling and no republican can go home and say i just gave the president a one dollar trillion andease on the debt ceiling since i had he said he would talk to me soon? how do you explain that at home? you cannot. that a explain negotiation is underway. that is what was done last time. i will not tell you that it was a work of art, it was not. both sides have higher expectations on what they can achieve, but at the end of the day they did save 2.1 dollar trillion and they moved the country in the right direction. i think it is doable again and

possibly in an easier fashion once people are at the table. host: some of your colleagues make the argument that it is not as big a deal if the debt ceiling is reached. explain that to me. guest: i have a lot of respect for my friends, but i do not agree with that. i think it is a big deal. we are the most credit worthy institution in the history of the planet, we have paid all bills on time for 230 years. alexander hamilton set us up to pay our debt and that american credit would be reliable. the is one of the reasons american dollar is one of the most exchange currencies, why it is one of the first investments of choice for people all over the world. i agree with the president, it is not to be risked, but at the same time you cannot just raise the debt ceiling without the deficit. they willtly, i doubt

be there to vote to raise the debt ceiling. prerogative, but at the end of the day i think we have a responsibility to work across the aisle and do the right thing. some people have suggested that if you look at house republicans right now, there is something of a civil war playing out. [laughter] is a vigorous debate, and that is fair enough. look, we are a pretty big party. we have been the major party in congressional elections, which is quite something. we are used to thinking of a republican party that was much smaller thanand this one is. this is a raucous caucus, no doubt about it. a lot of people came here in 2020 and 2012.

again, they are trying to do the right thing, doing what their constituents want them to do, i would expect a vigorous debate. the democrats are more cohesive than they used to be. the diversity that we used to think of, they are smart -- smaller and further to the left, it makes agreement between the two difficult from the speaker standpoint. host: congressman peter king talk about this clash within republicans. let's listen. [video clip] are willing to close down the government if youacare were not defunded, are not a real conservative unless you voted to shut down the government, people like senator cruise, building up lists and raising funds to use

against other republicans. have an internal party fight with people in the senate and the house, which would be great if it was only republican fight. but the government shutdown. host: your take? guest: peter king is one of my favorite members. i was the director of the committee when he was elected, i have a great deal of respect for what he has to say. again, i think that everyone has voting guards this year. everyone is trying to represent their constituents and do what they think is the right wing, at the end of the day i think he is probably about right when he talks about the size of these groups. i think that most republicans support the speaker, i think they will be there for a deal with the speaker and the president to sit down and deal with one another. they have been every time, when they needed to do that.

i think that at the end of the day john boehner is an eminently reasonable guy. i worked with the president on the fiscal cliff deal, voted for hurricane sandy the relief, violence against women, those were all compromise positions. maybe this time the chemistry will get better when they actually get to the table. but, again, they forced a really big deal in august 2011, and they were both dissatisfied. they both really wanted a bigger deal than they came away ith. i think internal party politics elp precip indicated the shutdown, argued strongly against it, and always like to point out every vote has been either keep the government open or reopen whatever parts i can. but at the end of the day, it's now really a debt ceiling discussion. it's not over obamacare. it's really classic taxes,

entitlements, spending reform kind of debate. i think today's op-ed piece by paul ryan in "the wall street journal" really offers one of the best ways out and a good view of what the stakes really are. host: i want to ask you about the op-ed. the chairman argues the president has been silent, has not reached out to congress. is that a view that you share? guest: well, look, i think he's done it fitfully. every chief executive has different strengths and weaknesses, and there's no question this is a chief executive. you know, has some tremendous gifts and talents. i've had the opportunity to work with him on multiple occasions. he was kind enough to come to my hometown in moore, oklahoma, when we had our tornado disaster. the administration has been terrific to work with in every way there. i know his compassion is real, and i appreciate that. i do not think he's rticularly good at bargaining. he was in the senate a couple of years before he was running for president. does he have a background of

having done this in the illinois legislature, but that's not the same scale or complexity, and frankly, it wasn't a legislative leader there. he was a significant player, but not the speak err or president pro tem or something like that. i think he prefers not to have to engage in that kind of bargaining. unfortunately, in divided government, you need to. bill clinton and ronald reagan, both of whom have been chief executive at the state level, were pretty good. l.b.j., who had been the majority leader, was a master at knowing how to make a legislative deal. this is not an experience that, in my view, that the president really came to the white house with. but we are five years into this now, and we ought to be better at this on both sides. i don't want to cast the blame on the president. but i don't know any other way to begin other than sitting down at the table and talking, and i think putting conditions, which the speaker has not, you know, and really, sort of walked away in some ways from what the initial republican position was, where he's put

multiple reiterations was, and his lost offer was let's sit down and have a conference. it was no, we have to fully reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling for some unspecified period of time, unspecified amount, that's not much of an offer. i mean, i can see how the speak we're say, well, they want me to union hat ratly surrender. i can't do that. host: so he's coming back to this idea of a clean c.r. my question for you is, are there enough votes about to pass in the house, and is it an idea you support? guest: i don't think there are enough votes for it to pass, but it's really not the issue that will come. you know, people are allowed the position themselves however they like rhetorically and say what they would do, but the only thing you can vote on is what's in front of you, and the speaker said that's not going to come to the floor. so the reality is, as a whip, and i'm the deputy whip, one of many, i look at two things.

who will find a discharge petition and who will vote against the so-called rule, which sets the terms of debate? the republicans have been pretty unified in that area, because they know the speaker's negotiating position depends on them being loyal, on procedural votes. we didn't see a lot of democrats signing discharge positions or breaking from nancy pelosi on rule votes, and i don't think you'll see that from our side. now, my personal position has been, look, i'll vote for anything that keeps the government open. i've done that multiple times. some of my democratic friends have not, and i've done it with conditions, i've done it for agencies. if we get something out there, then i'll look at it in that context, but my bias is toward getting the government back up and operational, particularly since, quite honestly, we're paying people. these people, you know, want to work. and they perform important functions. i don't have any problem with getting the government up and operational. it would help if the president and the speaker were negotiating on a longer term budget solution at the same time. i think the whole country would

feel better about that. host: let's go to your calls. we're going to start with joan in geneva, new york, on our line for republicans. you're on "washington journal." caller: hi, mr. cole. good morning. guest: good morning. caller: i have three questions, and i'll try to make it quick. why are we still running under a c.r.? what happened to all the appropriations bill that's been passed in the last two years? that's my first question. guest: you want me to answer them one at a time? caller: no, i'll get off the phone. guest: ok, very good. caller: now, what president have we ever seen that has his old re-election team sell access to the white house for $5 hundred,000 a pop? that's my second question. and why are there illegal immigrants on the national mall when our veterans cannot get into the memorial? and i'll hang up the phone and listen to you.

thank you. guest: thank you. three great questions. first, on the appropriations issue, you know, honestly, the senate hasn't passed an appropriations bill this year. the house has passed four or five. it's actually dealt with 10 in committee of the 12, and it could move the others pretty quickly. but it's been difficult all the way through. the senate simply hasn't been able to function and get its normal bills out there. so we've really been operating since august and even march on . continuing resolution bills are being prepared. we could have, if we could get a budget agreement, what's called a large omnibus bill, a negotiation on everything between the house appropriations committee and the senate appropriations committee, once these larger issues are settled, and i hope that's where we go. but again, frankly, i think the senate hasn't done its work. when it's not producing bills, the house says, well, if we're not running bills, why should we be bringing our bills out on the floor and get beaten up?

the senate appropriations process is broken. but i've lot of prepare for the them.nators that lead so sooner or later we have it. your question in terms of the campaign, i'm not exactly sure what you're referring to. no question the president was the most successful person running for office ever in terms of raising money. he was in 2008 as he was in 2012. 200 he said he would operate by the public financing s. he chose not to do that. that's his right. he certainly didn't in 2012, and neither did his opponent. mccain did in 2008. so i think he's sort of escalated the arms race, but the president, as far as i know, has generally operated within the law. now, he's stretched it right to the limit, but i'm not suggesting he's doing something that other politicians don't do in that regard. in terms of illegal immigrants,

obviously we have a problem in this country, and we've made a little more progress on it than most people recognize. we've deported 100,000 illegal immigrants last year. our bothered security is not where it needs to be, but it's better than in 2002 under president bush. we more or less doubled the border patrol. we've continued to do that. with president obama. we're making some progress there, but we're not where we need to be. and that will be, i think, once we get the budget items done, one of the areas of discussion and debate and probably contention between the two parties. in terms of the memorial opening, you'll be happy to know that the world war ii memorial is finally open. that's good. but, you know, it's you have to get to the vietnam memorial. it's tough to get to the korean memorial. all these things. these are open-air memorials. they don't require a lot of supervision. why they were ever closed in the first place, i don't know. it suggests to me that there's

a lot of politics into this to try to do some things that are symbolic and highly visible, and indeed we reports of a couple of park rangers having said they were told to make things as difficult as possible. at the end of the day, if we can just sit down and start a negotiation on the debt ceiling and the fiscal condition of the country, knowing we can get everything back open, and that's what we ought to be trying to do. host: next to anthony in valdosta, georgia, our independent line. he's a federal worker. go ahead. caller: representative cole, good morning, sir. guest: good morning. caller: the lady that preed see, she had three points. i only got two. i don't want to moan on the part of police your time. first off, as far as the national debt and the ntinuing borrowing of money, a lot of the frustration we have, when our representatives make a deal to extend the credit line to a trillion $100 billion ke

per year cut, now, that's a trillion dollars for $1 hundred that's $ hundred billion a year we go into debt. we can't afford that. nobody can afford that. the second thing is, i mean, shown your support in congress, and we appreciate that. we appreciate wanting to defend the country. but these plans we have here, that we actually went to war with, we could lose one. we had two expensive, our equipment is too expensive to ose in a war, and nobody's looking at that. those two items, you take a look at those, i think we've got the defense taken care of and the debt taken care of, and i'll listen for your answer. >> well, those are great points, and thank you for your service as a federal employee. in terms of borrowing, you're right. that's the gist of the debate here. look, we've made some progress

here. the deficit was about $1.4 trillion annually. this year we're coming in at about $700 billion. but it's still $700 billion. we just got a congressional budget off report, c.b.o. report, that says, you know, it's temporarily coming down, but it's going to go right back up within a matter of two, three, four years, simply because of the baby boomers retiring and the entitlement crisis. so take this opportunity now with relatively low interest rates and make fundamental reforms in your retirement programs and your healthcare programs that will save you money long term. that's what we ought to be doing. i think the president has sort of pushed that off. whoever his successor is, that person, he or she, has a big stake in this fight, because the fiscal conditions of the country that they inherited in january of 2007 is being decided right now. we need to really keep working on that. we made some progress, but it's not nearly enough. and we've done about as much on the discretionary side, which

is where the federal workforce, the military, as we can do. we've actually cut spending there three years in a row. first time that's happened since the early 1950's. it brought the deficit down. about the at the end of the day, if you don't deal with social security, medicare, medicare, food stamps, farm program programs, all these entitlement programs, you still deal with the problem. to your point about the military, unquestionably we do have some extraordinarily expensive weapon systems, everything from aircraft carriers to b-1 bombers to the cost factor on the f-35 new joint strike fighter. i sit on the defense appropriations subcommittee. i think we've got real problems in the procurement and sometimes we overdo it in terms of high-tech, trying to get every edge we can, and we make these programs so expensive that we don't have the sheer numbers that you might need in

a war. i think all i can tell you is we're looking at that. we're trying to find better ways to do it. i think we've had, you know, really a succession of good defense 60's. i think leon panetta did a fine job there, and i've got a lot of confidence in secretary hagel. but it's a big bureaucracy over there, and it's tough to manage, tough to get your fingers around. they are making some improvements and changes, but we've got a very long way to go. >> an article in "usa today" reads, military v.a. benefits are the latest casualty. meanwhile, the families of four soldiers and a marine killed in afghanistan since the shutdown last week are not receiving a $100,000 death gratuity or any unpaid income due their loved ones or being reimbursed for burial expenses, the pentagon says --

guest: yeah, it will pass overwhelmingly. this is certainly not something anybody wanted to happen. to be fair, there's been some disagreement between the congress and the pentagon over what they do and don't have the authority to do. we passed a full military first, but it also included civilian defense workers contractors t. took them several days to figure out, hey, read the law. defense in the department should be back at work, and we had to work a little bit with them, but at came of the day they around. this is, you know, inexcusable, obviously, the families have had enough tragedy on its own. this is not something that anybody in either party, you know, would want to happen or would allow to continue, so we'll move that legislation, and, you know, strangely enough, the senate, which has said it won't do things piecemeal, i bet you it does

this, just as it agreed with us on make sthuring all federal employees got back pay. harry reid picks and chooses which pieces he's willing to do when we move legislation, and, you know, there's a lot more to government that could be open today if he simple wool take up the bills that are being passed by bipartisan majority in the house and put them on the senate floor. he just won't do it. host: let's take another call from james on our republican line. go ahead. caller: yeah, good morning. my name is james. i'm 50 years old. i really do have the answer toss fix our question and the medical bankruptcy problems that are macing america. i've been stuck in the working poor class for 30 years trying to break through, and you can't do it because of the medical vampires. they'll suck the financial lifeblood right out of you. they're costing middle-class working families, working poor class families, and it's kind of a cancer to the economy.

also, if we could just stop making the working poor class man pay rent, we will infuse so much money. t's got a cap on $4,000 or $5,000 realistic medical emergency. you can't use it because you got the flu. it's a real medical emergency. now the government can promote is and cause healthier companies, wealthier americans to buy these cards for poor families and give it to them, and they've got all the american families on that. that would be money into the government. then the government can say what they want to say, medical vampires union overcharges. it's going to keep me from filing bankruptcy. i had to file bankruptcy once, and i'm head that had way again if i don't stay on top of these medical bills. you'd get all that money coming

into the government, and then you turn around and get that money, and say in mays county where i live in oklahoma, if you could free up 1,000 homes and just -- i bought my home for $4,800, and i stopped paying rent. .ow i own a doughnut shop it's because i stopped paying rent. if you were to get the church -- host: thank you for sharing your ideas. let's let the congressman respond. guest: that's a pretty sweeping proposal, so i'm not sure if i can respond to all of it or follow it. you'd need to see it in paper. look, basic point in terms of the cost of healthcare, i think the caller is right. healthcare takes up about 17% of our total economy. the average country, it's around 10% to 111%, so we spend more. we get great care for it, compared at the top end. i mean, we can do things and you can move immediately from diagnosis and treatment. but it's expensive.

it's interesting to me, we now see online movements where they're beginning to compare the price of healthcare, both inside the united states and different institutions, and frankly, in first-world countries in europe and places where you feel very comfortable. we're finding the cost of what we charge for a procedure here is considerably higher. now, there are things we ought to be doing. medical insurance liability reform, lot of our doctors pay a lot more in insurance than anybody else does in the world. but there's no question there's enty of bloat and fat in the medical system. and it is probably the leading cause of bankruptcy. unexpected healthcare challenge, people are going to get wiped out. the idea of providing some sort of catastrophic coverage is pretty good, and that's available in the marketplace for not an unreasonable sum f. you're willing to pay out the first several thousand dollars, if you have the ability to do that, then you can get catastrophic coverage at a pretty reasonable rate.

but anything we can do to make that more available, medical savings accounts, those type of things, where we let you put money back tax-free as long as it's used for healthcare expense, those are things there, but again, be happy to look at any proposals we've got. know there's a lot to do in healthcare. in mount up, sharon rainier, maryland, an independent on our line for federal employees. go ahead. >> i usually watch out weekend. i'm a civilian nurse working in an institution in the federal military institution. i'm not getting paid today. so i would just like to make a couple of points, please. the first thing is i think the democrats had a problem with giving out the message about what the affordable care act can do. had a ly, my son preexisting disease, and before the affordable care act, i had to make sure i had a

certificate. the insurance company also had he choice of not covering him, and also, i felt like i was held hostage because they had higher premiums. i think that if the democrats had made the message that they're aware, they said that, you know, say, for instance, someone had a stroke, the highe i think that if the democrats had made the message that they're aware, they said that, you know, say, for instance, someone had a stroke, the insurance companies were capping it, not paying any more, the families might have to pay, you don't know that. people don't know that. and instead of paying a lot of money and trying to get coverage, people are not getting that message. , you have ntatives your coverage, you always have your coverage, and you have your job. and while i'm sitting here watching this debate, it's just and i making us angry,

think people have to get the emotion out and start looking at the care act the democrats have passed to dumb down the message and tell people what the affordable care act does for them. host: thank you so much, sharon. we're going to have the and i think people have to get the emotion out and start looking at the care act the democrats have passed to dumb down the message and tell people what the affordable care act does for them. host: thank you so much, sharon. we're going to have the congressman respond. guest: well, frankly, we probably disagree about the affordable care act. i voted multiple times to repeal it or change it. seven times, the democrats accepted. the democratic science passed, they saved about $ 2 billion. i think there's some aspects to the affordable care act certainly that are good. looking at people with preexisting conditions, and providing some relief actually both sides agree on that. there's a republican proposal for a high-risk pool to try to bring down the rates of insurance a high-risk pool to t bring down the rates of insurance initially funded by the government. there's a variety of ways to look at that. but your caller is certainly right. that's a terrific problem to have. and, you know, she's found a solution that works for her. look, i think the affordable care act is going to be the subject for debate for a long time to come. and the person says, if you guys got some ideas, let's sit

down and talk about some of those ideas and make changes. now, look, i didn't support it. i would like to get rid of it. but i recognize you're not going to get rid of something called obamacare while a guy named obama is president of the united states. just not likely to happen. but let's find some places where we can agree. i don't think democrats like the tax on medical devices, the idea that we were going to tax you your wheelchair, your oxygen tank, in order to help healthcare, really doesn't make a lot of sense. we put a proposal out about that, and i bet you we find ways to do that under the affordable care act. we call full-time employees somebody that works 30 hours, lot of people are losing work. cover that because people are cutting down their hours. why don't we define a workweek as 40 hours a week? there's some things i would hope we can sit down and find some agreement on. but at the end of the day,, you to , republicans want change or better go win some

more elections. that's the problem -- i get this at home sometimes. you guys aren't doing enough. well, the guys are there. the people that are there are doing quite a bit. they brought the deficit down in half. they've made some changes in the affordable care act. they won some victories, but until you control the united states senate and within a presidential election, then you have to sit down and bargain with the other side. i think both sides are having a hard time with that reality. i read sometimes some of the blogs on the left, and they're very frustrated with the president. the democrats in the senate say my goodness, you won this re-election, why can't you get more done that we want done? and the problem, is he's got a republican house. so, you know, we both have the same problem in that neither of us have the political strength to get everything we want. at the end of the day, the only thing you can do is sit down and talk and find the areas that overlap, and i think really that's what the american people want us to do is work together where you can. we don't expect either of to

you vend you are your principles, but to try to put the country first and try to find common ground. host: we're talking with oklahoma congressman tom cole. next up, david in las vegas on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: yeah, yes. i'd like to know why you all are forcing the capitol hill police, secret service and other security agencies to work for no pay. and also put their lives on the line to protect your butts over there in congress while you're sitting back collecting full pay. you all got staff loaded with family and friends all collecting full pay from the taxpayers, while you're inflicting pain on millions of americans. why don't you take a cut in pay and take a taste of your own medicine? groip great point. as a matter of fact,ive. i sent a letter to the chief clerk of the house and said withhold my pay while the government is shut down. paid. not getting in terms of my staff, nobody has family working on their staff. that would violate federal nepotism rules. i certainly don't.

like to think of my staff as my friends, but they're like to think of my staff as my friends, but they're about 30 years younger than me on average, and quite a bit more talented and energetic. they work awfully hard for a relatively small amount of money. they up don't make very much money on capitol hill if you really lock at what their salary and it is cost of living are. , i go into the exchange just like everybody , i go into the exchange just like everybody else. this governs the same way every other american does, that is, not able to take our subsidies with. right now i'd pay for a third of the cost and the federal government pays for about 2/3. i've been privately insured most of my life as a small business owner. have a wife with a preexisting condition, so i believe i understand what it's like to be in the marketplace. i'm anxious to see what we can do to help people. but in terms of capitol police,

you're right and wrong. look, they do an unbelievable job each and every day. i go into a building, and my staff goes into a building, and our visitors and tourists come into a building, so we know our targets for terrorists are all over the world. and these are men and women that put their lives on the line, protect us all, not just members of congress, but anybody that's there to do business. and they do it superbly well. now, they're guaranteed their pay, and so when the shutdown ends, they will be excepted. we've actually moved legislation in the house last night who said if you're on duty, you should get your pay without interruption. in other words, the 15th, when your next check is due, shed get it. i would hope that's something the senate picks up. we've already promised folks we're going to make them hold at the end. why not just keep the system going, particularly for people that are working there full-time, like the capitol police, and make sure that they get compensated. and i think every member of

congress, again, they've got to do what they think is the appropriate thing, but if the government is shut down and people aren't getting paid, i don't think members of congress ought to be getting paid either. i think they ought to be working to find common ground and resolve t. >> another call from michael in new jersey on our line for republicans. you're on "washington journal." caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'm just a little concerned about our national debt and how the democrats who seem to know everything that's going to go wrong when, after it happened, and continued to blame the republicans for not caring about all this, well, if you know what's going to happen in the first place, then you're partially responsible. the other part is, ever since george washington, our country has spent more money than it takes in. never have we ever had a time where we've actually had a profit. this is the best country in the world. this is a business.

why can't it be run by these geniuses, geithner, who's supposed to be so smart, well, if they're so smart, why do they continue to not spend more money than they take in? the reason is they pay their friends. this is money that they borrow from their friends, and they're paying the interest to their friends. billions and billions and billions of dollars. host: michael, thank you so much for your call. congressman, your take. caller: guest: there was one time we didn't have a debt. andrew jackson paid it off. he had a surplus and sent the money back to the states, but that was back in the 1980's. the caller's basic point is right. the debt is a pretty complex thing. it's a matter of, you know, how much -- how big it is in relationship to your income. a lot of families carry more debt than the government does, if you look at the average american household. you say, well, your mortgage is a debt, your car payment is a

debt, and you're actually carrying a fair amount of debt on average, and so if you've got the income to both pay those things off over time and pay the interest and pay it down, then you're ok. right now we have a fairly high income. we're actually getting about $2.7 billion -- excuse me, $2.7 trillion in taxes, high nest american spift, but we're american spift, but we're

>> i don't know. i'm not privy to those discussions, so to speak. i think they were bose to a deal. both sides certainly agree that they wanted a clean continuing resolution. then we would move into where we are now. pretty spirited discussion over the debt sealing. the healthcare issue sort of exploded in august. lot of people responsible for that. some of them up on the hill. it got entangled in my view in

the debate. i've done multiple things in that direction. at the end of the day, you can't set political objectives that are unachievable given the political strength that you have. the speaker is trying and has been able to do this to keep his conference together and keep his leadership team together so he can sit down and negotiate with the president. the healthcare will be a part of that. that's absolutely true, it will be. not to the point probably of being repealed or defunded. there are changes i think that each side can agree to. last point and this addresses

something your caller said i think this is very important and different context she intended to address. she talked about 10,000 people a day retiring in social security. she's absolutely right. 10,000 people everyday for the next 19 years, 3.5 million people. that's not sustainable. there's not enough money in the trust fund. there's not enough money to pay the benefits that those people have been promised. we better sit down and think through how we do the system. we've done this before. not as if ronald reagan and tip o'neil got along. it was much closer going bankrupt in less than a year. they did some things to expand life out to about 75 years. let's do those kinds of things. they raise retirement age, i won't be able to retire at 65

and get a social security check. i'll be 66.5. they told me that at 34. it's not like i didn't have time to prepare for it. we ought to get about going them. otherwise, the system the people depends on is going to run out of money. when that happen, they'll continue to get their benefit but it will be cut automatically across the board. may be 75% what they were planning on will get lower and lower as years go forward. we shouldn't let that happen. let's start this larger negotiation and discussion and begin to address those issues. host: take another caller from donna, she's a democrat for veteran employees.

caller: good morning. i want to comment, i'm not sure how they do it or what they do, i just wish they would come to some sort of continuing resolution and let the government go back to work. i'm not sure they realize how many people are actually hurting by keeping the federal employees out of work. thank you. guest: i represent an air force base that has 15,000 employees that keep our airplanes flying. i've got fort seal army post. i've got the national weather center, which gives us all the world warning about pending disasters and tornadoes.

i have a very substantial federal presence. my dad was a federal employee. did 20 years with the united states air force. i know how we would have felt if somebody was messing with our check. i think your caller makes absolutely the right point. in washington d.c. sometimes we worry about who will get the blame. we needs to worry about who will get hurt. the people getting hurt now are the people at work, want to be at work and provide services and people that depend on those services. while we're going to be able to make the federal workers whole, there are a lot of federal contractors they depend on federal government operating. everything that people that work on aircraft and they're not getting paid now. there's no assurance that their private companies will compensate them. i know companies are beginning to lay off defense contractors in particular. it's not a good thing.

your caller makes the right point. every time i had an opportunity to vote to keep the government running, every time i had an opportunity to vote to reopen part of it, i have. hopefully within matter of days, it makes no sense that we have a shutdown while we don't pay people. they're not the deadbeats here. they want to go back to work. they know they're going to get paid in the end. you could hear a couple of those workers that called in, you can hear the disappointment in their voice that they can't do what they want to do is to help people. you care about people. you want to get the benefits they learned over their lifetime. i suspect we could have a short term continuing resolution and a

short term debt deal and then we can go on. right now the president is insisting, i got to have -- the debt ceiling -- you have to unilaterally raise it. he came off that position a little bit, yesterday. may be we're edging closer to some sort of frame work where everybody can sit down. we will again, your caller is right to be frustrated and right that this is no way to run the greatest country in the world. let's sit down and talk and find common ground and move on. if we do what the american people do everyday and get up and do their job, we'll be better off in washington d.c. host: tom cole, thank you so much for joining us. up next we'll be talking with representative donna edwards.

>> dylan buyers of politico wrote that president obama held an off the record meeting. the presidents meeting and fox news contributor charles krauthammer, the national review washington editor, robert costa, cathleen parker and washington examiner columnist byron new york. mr.york tweeted this morning about the meeting saying it was a good meeting. helped me better understand the white house perspective on current matters. i was impressed obama vetoed conservative journallest in. politicos andrew glass reports that today is yale university's birthday. it was founded on this day october 9th in 1701. three out of four of the nation's most recent presidents,

george h. w. bush, bill clinton and george w. bush all graduated from yale college or its law school. those are some of the elitest headlines on c-span radio. >> during book tv national book festival, david nassau talk about joseph kennedy. >> finally kennedy couldn't figure out whether churchill was teasing him or he was so drunk from the day before that kennedy didn't drink. they disliked one another and the war was over. there had been intense suffer. church hill -- churchill said to kennedy, he said i'm so sorry for your loss. joe junior had died during the war. churchill was sincere. he said to churchill what good was it all.

churchill looked at him unbelieving, world war ii had destroyed in churchill's mind hitler was the dictators and saved democracy. so churchill thought. kennedy blazed hatred at him. >> book tv is the only national television network devoted exclusively to nonfiction books every weekend. this fall we're marking 15 years of book tv on c-span two. "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we're joined by maryland representative donna edwards. thank you so much for joining us. we're now in day nine of the shutdown. give us your view. where do we stand now? guest: i hope people realize we can't continue to close the federal government. i have a lot of federal workers in my district and of course across our state and maryland.

what we really need to do is open all the government for all americans. host: what we heard earlier where a lot of callers, some from maryland saying i can't go back to work. how likely we'll see an end to the shutdown? guest: i hope it will be soon. the easy solution is to get the government open. put a clean continuing resolution a funding bill on the floor of house of representatives. let's take an up and down vote on that, move to the president. host: you heard house speaker john boehner and representative tom cole saying this clean c.r. there's not enough votes in the house. guest: two democrats signed a letter to speaker boehner saying we will support a clean resolution. there are at least 25 republicans on record saying they would support a clean

continuing resolution. think the fear is frankly if it's put on the floor, it will pass. host: one of the things we heard yesterday the speaker indicated he wants to see some sort of supercommittee. do you think that's the right way to go here? guest: the fact is, the supercommittee that we need is a conference, house and senate conferees working on a budget. that's the only supercommittee we need. it's one that really operates within the processes of the congress. we've actually been calling as democrats and been calling for appointments to house conference and that hasn't happened yet. if we get the government open again, raise the debt ceiling so that we pay our bills on time and appoint conferees to a

conference committee, we can work out the budget details and what do representative cole said which is move towards a regular appropriation process that we can pass appropriations in accordance with the budget. host: what is he doing? tell me what it means as we move forward? guest: his role has been entirely appropriate. he said the real responsibility for funding the government is the congressional responsibility for opening the government. it's a congressional responsibility. it's constitutional responsibility. the president called on us to do that. he said quite plainly, he's not going to do it in piecemeal. it doesn't make sense. i think the president played a constructive role in saying that we have to get to the table, pass a clean funding resolution,

raise the debt ceiling so that we pay our bills on time and then work through the regular budgets process to negotiate already affect policy issues. host: yesterday we heard john boehner the house speaker thought about presidential negotiations in the past. let's listen to what he had to say. >> there's never been a president in our history that did not negotiate over the debt limit. never. not once. as a matter of fact, president obama, negotiated with me over the debt limit in 2011. he also negotiated with the blue dog democrats to raise the debt ceiling in 2010. the way to resolve this is to sit down and have a conversation to resolve our differences. host: congresswoman your take? guest: i think speaker boehner is rewriting history. it is true in 2011 there was a

negotiation. the reason that there was is because republicans in the house threatened the full faith and credit, the obligation to meet our responsibilities and to default. i just think the president is a responsible person. many of us in congress are responsible too. we know we have to pay the bill that's we incurred. keep in mind with raising the debt ceiling, we're talking about paying bills in congress that was authorized. this is about paying our obligations as though we can individually run up credit card or something. host: we're hearing from many republicans that the president isn't coming to the table. he said the president is giving

congress the silent treatment. that's a shame because this doesn't have to be another crisis. it can be a break through. your take on that. guest: i agree it doesn't have to be another crisis because republicans could put a clean debt ceiling bill on the floor and clean resolution to fund the government. i don't agree with this characterization with the president not negotiating. keep in mind the president sat down with speaker boehner and really negotiated a deal and then when speaker boehner went back to his conference, they sabotaged it. the president is trying to figure out what i need to negotiate with. i need to negotiate with ted cruz or speaker boehner, do i need to negotiate with the tea party. the republican party frankly, has been a bit of a moving target almost as though it's kind of shadow boxing. i think the president has in good faith negotiated with the speaker. i heard the speaker say the president isn't calling and hasn't been in communication.

that's not true. the president indicated that in his press conference yesterday. i know that our leadership, nancy pelosi is calling speaker boehner almost everyday saying what is it we can do. what can we do as democrats to help us get the government reopen again. we're hearing crickets on that. host: the republican number is 202-585-3881 for democrats the number is 202-585-3880, independents the number is 202-585-3882. if you're a federal employee please call (202)585-3383. the president can just do this on his own. is that an avenue he should

take? guest: i heard secretary lew over the weekend.rq what he said he believes and the president believes they don't have constitutional authority. let's be clear, it's the responsibility of the congress to deal with these issues. it's our responsibility to restart the government. it's our responsibility to raise the debt ceiling, to actually just pay our bills. that's a congressional responsibility. it's a constitutional responsibility. i want us to meet our constitutional responsibility. the president wants us to do that. the way to do that is to do what president since ronald reagan have done something like 40 times, which is raise the debt ceiling and pay our bills. host: we will start with al in tennessee on our line for republicans. caller: i got a question. the first question is, often times with people on either side

of the aisle, we talk about social security recipients. we must pay social security recipients. one of the things i forget is the welfare recipients. as if the welfare recipients are at the head of the line. we never discuss the remote responsibility of cutting welfare off to people who hasn't made that living. the second thing, i got a comment for c-span, instead of having republicans, democrats, independents and federal employees, why don't we have two categories. net producers, net takers. if you have skin in the game and you work to produce the income for the people that are in that sector and that's just category. host: thank you so much for your comment. guest: i don't agree with the characterization of any americans and takers and

producers. lot of us produce lots of different things. let me talk about federal employees. federal employees are really contributing to the flow of this country we're you're talking about those who are at fema doing emergency and disaster relief. where you're talking about people at e .p.a. measuring whether we have clean water or clean air. one of my constitutes who works at the department of health and human service, she's on furlough now. her job is to make sure that there's no medicare fraud. her job is to search for medicare fraud and to refer matters over to the department of justice. she's not at work and the people at the department of justice are not at work, it means there could be potential fraud that's not uncovered. you can see the inner workings on the federal government. with respect to social security, what i like to say to people in my district and really across

the country, the difference between a government shutdown and a default is that under a shutdown, social security checks continue to be processed. under default, if that were to happen, there's no money in the bank. there's nothing to pay out those checks. it's like writing a check and then having nonsufficient funds written on top of it. people would be in jeopardy and not receiving their social security checks if they contributed to it and they earned or disability payments or veterans benefits. those kind of things. we really are on the brink here. think it's really dangerous proposition to hear some of my colleagues talking about how default doesn't matter. of course it matters, it matters as much as keeping the government open. host: take another call from robert from maryland. a federal worker. go ahead. caller: i am a federal worker from maryland.

i moved from maryland from a red state, southern red state. what i don't think some people are realizing is how much this shutdown is not only like affecting federal employees here in maryland, but the federal employees from southern states. my question is, why not just pass a clean c.r. because i'm going to tell you, a lot of people in these southern states that are very poor, rely on these coverages. why not pass a c.r. to help all people? guest: thanks robert for that comment. i do believe we have to get the government open all of government for all americans.

you have to get all of government open. i would say for federal workers, it's the ripple effect with the closure of the federal government. i was talking to some bankers they started making mortgage loans. they just started doing financing. when they can't verify income through the i.r.s. and they can't verify identity, there's social security administration, both of those functions shut down with the closure of government. they're not making any loans. they're not making business loans, they're not making mortgage loans. that has a ripple effect impact on the larger economy. host: let's go to utah on our line for democrats. you're on "washington journal." caller: i am disgusted with the

tea party people. they're trying to take over the country. the other republicans still see this. i don't know why they're being brainwashed. they need to grow a backbone and put a c.r. on the floor and get the country back in. guest: speaker boehner has authority to put a clean c.r. on floor and call up for a vote. it has to ripen to enable us the time frame under the rules to

get the signatures. we will get the signatures i'm guessing all of the democratic caucus. the interesting thing for me when i hear these charges of nonnegotiation, i didn't vote for the sequester. i don't support the limits that we're in. paul ryan's budget. i'm actually willing to vote for a clean c.r. at those limits $896 billion, limits i never supported, i believe it's important to make that kind of compromise to get government running again. we get an overwhelming -- all of our democratic caucus and we only need 18 or 19 members of the republican party so that we can pass a bill that would fund the government. i think it's the right thing to do. i would challenge speaker boehner if he believes there aren't the votes to do that, put it on the floor.

he put other things on the floor that failed. host: let's go to dein hyattsville, maryland for democrats, a federal worker. caller: good morning. donna, i applaud you for all your services. harry asked that it be the finance committee or budget committee come together. the next time congress come together in 2015, i think they should set some